Monsoon Session begins today:
What to expect over 19 sittings of ParliamentIndia Today, July
16, 2017

A total of 16 Bills
have been listed for introduction and passing while two others
for withdrawal during the Monsoon session of Parliament
beginning today.

The Monsoon Session
of Parliament begins today, the day when over 4,850 legislators
will be casting their votes to elect the next President of
India.
Parliament will be in session till August 11 and hold 19
sittings during the period. According to the PRS Legislative
Research, a total of 18 Bills have been listed for consideration
and passing.
While 16 Bills have been listed for introduction, consideration
and passing, two are mentionedfor withdrawal.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING MONSOON SESSION

Nine of the listed
Bills have already been passed by the Lok Sabha and are awaiting
the nod from the Rajya Sabha. Among these legislations are, the
Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the
National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017.

The Whistle Blowers
Bill specifies grounds under which disclosures related to
corruption may not be made public while the National Commission
for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017 proposes to annul the
National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
Bills like the Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2017 the
Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 have been listed for passage
by both the Houses.

Of the 16 Bills
listed for introduction, consideration and passing, are the
National Sports University Bill, 2017, the Financial Resolution
and Deposit Insurance (FDRI) Bill, 2017.

The two Bills listed
for withdrawal are the Participatory of Workers in Management
Bill, 1990 and The Northeast Council (Amendment) Bill, 2013.

Meanwhile, a women's
collective, comprising more than 1,600 organisations, has
pitched for the passage of the "long pending" Women's
Reservation Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

With the slogan "Ab
33 per cent nahi 50 per cent", the National Alliance for Women's
Reservation Bill has demanded 50 per cent reservation for women
in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies instead of 33 per cent.

"The Prime Minister
had congratulated African countries for women's majority in
their parliament. But when it came to his country, he never said
a single word about this Bill," general secretary of the
National Federation of Indian Women, Annie Raja, said.

In India, women hold
a mere 12 per cent of the seats in Parliament and nine per cent
in state assemblies, Director of Centre for Social Research,
Ranjana Kumari, said, adding, "Unless there are more women in
politics, their concerns cannot be addressed effectively."

Director of the
Joint Women's Programme, Jyotsna Chatterjee, said that the BJP
had "committed" support to the women's reservation bill in its
2014 election manifesto, and now it was time for the party to
stand by it. "It is high time to prove what they had declared in
their election manifesto. The government says 'beti bachao beti
padhao', but what about her political rights," she said.

Eyes will also be on
the Code on Wages Bill during the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya yesterday said his
department is working hard to lay the Code on Wages Bill in the
Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session.

The labour ministry
had earlier sought a Cabinet approval for the new labour code on
wages, a move which is seen as a first step towards labour
reforms. "If the new bill is passed in the Parliament and
becomes an Act, it will significantly improve the ease of doing
business as well as ensure minimum wages to all workers," the
minister said.

The Code on Wages
Bill, which will ensure universal minimum wage for all
industries and workers, has already been approved by the union
finance minister Arun Jaitley-led inter-ministerial panel on
labour. The Code on Wages Bill also seeks to empower the Centre
to set a minimum wage across sectors, which the states will have
to follow.

The minimum wage
will be applicable to all classes of workers, which at present,
is applicable to scheduled industries or establishments in the
law. Under the Code on Wages, the labour ministry has chalked
out plans to streamline the definition of wages by amalgamating
four wage-related statutes. Employees now grapple with nearly
half a dozen definitions of wages in various Acts across the
Centre and states, Dattatreya said.

"We have decided to
amalgamate 44 labour laws into four codes that include code on
wages, code on industrial relations, code on social security,
and code on safety, health and working conditions," the minister
added.